Future Differences
by egbkid
Summary: (chap 1-7) A sequal to Past Difficulties (please read first, or you won't get this one).
1. Logan

Here's part one of Future Differences, the sequal to Past Difficulties. Like last time, I own nothing and am but a poor Canadian, please do not sue me. Hope you all like it!! :)  
-egbkid  
  
Logan sat up in his bed.   
"Who's Max?" He looked at the door of his bedroom where his eight-year-old nephew stood.  
"I don't know anyone by that name, Tynan. Why?" he asked.  
"That's what you yelled just before you sat up. I came to wake you, and just as I came to the door, you yelled 'Max' and then sat up.  
"I must have been having a nightmare, but I can't remember it."  
"It must have been quite bad if you were shouting like that. Dad said breakfast is almost ready. You should be up, Molly is very excited about her first day of school and wishes to see you."  
"Alright. Tell him to give me ten minutes, and I'll be at the table."  
"Alright." Tynan turned and went down the hall to the kitchen. As Logan got out of bed, he had to smile. Tynan was only eight, and he already seemed like his father, while his niece Molly was almost six and was so much like their younger sister, Erin. He showered and dressed quickly, Molly had been so excited about her first day of kindergarten all week, and wanted Logan to walk her there on his way to work. Tynan, on the other hand, was going into third grade, and therefore thought himself old enough to walk to school on his own, even though it was his first day at the school too.   
True to his word, Logan stepped into the kitchen within ten minutes. He saw Molly dancing on her chair and singing, while his brother Sean tried to serve eggs, make lunches and get Molly off the chair at the same time. Tynan sat looking through his new books and talking a mile a minute about what he was going to learn in his new school. Logan grabbed Molly around the waist and lifted her high in the air, making her laugh, he then sat her on the chair, grabbed the frying pan from Sean and put a bunch of scrambled eggs on her plate. He handed her a fork and whispered into her ear, "Eat, you have a long day ahead of you!" He served up some to Tynan and handed him a fork, then threw the pan in the sink. Logan then grabbed a piece of toast and sat down.   
"Good morning!" he said cheerfully, which granted him a look from Sean.  
"How ye do it, Logan, I dunno. Jus look at them, as quiet as wee mice!" It was true, once both children had a fork and food in front of them, they didn't make a sound. And Logan had been able to do it every morning since Sean and his two children had moved in with him three months ago. They had come back to Seattle from Ireland after Sean's wife Maegan had died in a car accident. Tynan and Molly would have a hard time starting school this year, not only because of their Irish accents, but also because most of their classmates were born and raised in Seattle, and had a mommy. As well, Maegan had been very active in Tynan's schooling in Ireland, and he would miss that. Logan just hoped things would work out.  
"Almost time to go!' he announced, grabbing another piece of toast and pouring Molly some milk. She started to bounce in her seat, getting excited again.  
  
Meanwhile, in another part of Seattle...  



	2. Max

Here's part two, at Max's apartment, hope ya like it!!  
  
Max stood in front of her mirror brushing out her hair. Glancing at the clock, she started brushing faster. She had to next door in ten minutes and still hadn't eaten anything. 'Mom would kill me if she found out how I've been eating since I moved here.' She thought for about the millionth time. It had been six months since she had come to Seattle from a small farm up near the Canadian border. She had left her five brothers and sisters and all her childhood friends to work in Seattle, a huge city. Max left the bathroom and walked through her apartment, stopping and looking out one of the windows on her way by. It was hard to get used to seeing large buildings, and that thing they called the Space Needle, instead of her only real sibling, Kade, riding his horse. She also missed working on the farm with her adopted siblings. Max and Kade had been adopted into the large, prosperous family they were almost three. They knew nothing about where they came from, neither did their parents, just that they were found on the steps of a large orphanage in Seattle when they were one, neither dressed in much. Both seemed to be advanced in development for their age, and the only clue as to where they might have come from was a barcode tattoo on the back of their necks.   
Neither Max nor Kade had told their family about the other traits they shared, they only confided in each other. The fact that they didn't sleep much, and that they could see really well in the dark, hear things coming before anyone else, and move faster than most other people kind of scared them. Kade used his skills to an advantage, though, he was on the track team at his college, and was an excellent marksman. The only one of her skills that Max used was her incredible memory. Colleges and Universities begged both her and Kade to attend their school. Max declined and decided to move to Seattle, spending six months working in their town and on the farm first, after they graduated from High School. Kade went to a local college because he hadn't decided what he wanted to do.   
Max glanced at the clock again and realized she had been standing there thinking about Kade and her family for almost ten minutes.   
"I'm going to be late!" She shouted, grabbing her coat off a chair and her keys from the table. She locked the door and walked down the hall to her friend's apartment. Ishi Makoto was the first friend Max had made in Seattle, and now Max was like an aunt to Ishi and her husband, Somuru, two five year olds, Mai and Lei. She barely knocked on the apartment door when it was pulled open by the twins. Lei grabbed Max's arm and pulled her into the apartment, yelling.  
"Ma, Max's here! Max is here!" Mai grabbed her other arm and they led her into the kitchen where her friend was cooking breakfast. Somuru came down the hall tightening his tie.   
"Good morning, Max." He said, picking up Lei and putting him on one of the stools around the table. Max did likewise with Mai.  
"Good morning, Mr. Makoto." She teased. When she had first arrived in Seattle fresh from the sticks, she had called everyone by Mr or Ms, which had annoyed Somuru because she was his wife's friend.   
"Morning, Max." Ishi greeted, flipping a pan sized pancake. It flew in the air and flipped gracefully, landing directly in the centre of the pan again. Max was always amazed by the way Ishi did it, without ever loosing a pancake. "Have you eaten?"  
"Actually, I haven't. I think I even forgot to feed Jondi."   
"Go, when you come back, I will have some pancakes for you." Ishi smiled and flipped the pancake again, so Max went to back to her apartment. She didn't know what possessed her to give her cat such a strange name; it just was the first thing that came in to her head when she saw the dark cat. Her mom told her there had been a little girl named Jondi at the orphanage with her, but she had been older and was adopted a few weeks before Max and Kane. They figured maybe the cat reminded her of that girl. Max couldn't remember the particular child, but there was something familiar about the name. She fed her cat then went back to Ishi's apartment. Twenty minutes later, she was helping Mai and Lei get their coats on. Somuru was already gone to work, and Ishi was in the kitchen putting the dishes in the dishwasher.   
"Hurry up, Ma." Mai yelled as she picked up her book bag. Max helped her put it on her back, the large cartoon character smiling at her, while Lei got stuck trying to put his on. She laughed and helped him get untangled.   
"Yeah, hurry up, Ma." Max yelled, "Or we'll be late for the first day of school!" Ishi laughed as she came out of the kitchen carrying the children's lunch bags, she handed one to each of then and put on her own jacket.   
"I wish it could have been a nice day," she said, taking Lei's hand "It always seems to be raining here." Max agreed and took Mai's hand, then they left the apartment and walked down the hall towards the elevator. Mai and Lei ran ahead to it to press the button to go down.   
"Ma, Max hurry up, we'll be late!" Max laughed and ran down the hall to catch up.  
  
Back at the Cale's...  



	3. Logan

And now back to Logan...  
  
Logan took the elevator down to the street with Sean, Tynan and Molly. As he unlocked the doors to his car, Molly started crying.  
"I don't want to go!" She yelled, clinging to Sean's leg.   
"Whoa, there, Molly. Ye was so excited about school just two minutes ago, what's wrong now?"  
"Don wanna go, Daddy. School's scary." Logan knelt down to Molly's level and tried to pull her off Sean's leg.  
"Did Tynan tell you stories about school?"  
"No, Uncle Logan," She said looking at him, "But R.J. said the teachers were mean, an' would make me sit on a mat all day, and I would never be allowed to go to th' bathroom. He also said if me was sick or cried, the teacher would lock me in a closet for a whole day." Logan smiled at Sean, who bent down and picked up Molly.   
"R.J. was kidding, Molly. The teachers at yer school would never hurt or scare ye. Don't worry, it will be alright."  
"Are you sure?"   
"He's right, Molly. Teachers are always nice. 'Sides, I already met most of them, they seem nice t' me." Tynan said as he climbed into the car. Molly looked at him sceptically.  
"And now, it's time to go, or we'll be late." Logan grabbed Molly out of Sean's arms and swung her into the backseat of the car beside Tynan. He adjusted the seat belt on her booster seat then went to close the door. "All hands, feet, arms, legs and heads in the car?" He asked, making a silly face.  
"Yup!" Molly giggled, so Logan slammed the door.   
"We'll have to talk to Rico about what R.J. said, again." Logan told Sean as he walked around the car to get in.  
"That little boy's father don' care, Logan! He's rich, an' th' kid kin have anythin' he wants! It's to bad that his Mama died. If she knew how spoilt he was, she'd be rollin' in 'er grave. Such a beautiful girl, she was." They got into the car.  
"That she was." Logan agreed, then they dropped the subject. Rico was a self made man. He grew up poor, but hit it rich when he was about twenty-five. He married into money as well, and had a son, Rico Junior, who couldn't have been more spoiled since his Mama died when he was two. Both Logan and Sean knew Laura when they were teens, Logan babysat her a few times and their sister Erin used to play with her when they were small.   
Logan drove off down the street towards the school. It was only about four years old, a beautiful new building and housed grades kindergarten to five.   
"Hey, Uncle Logan, weren't we going to walk to school today?"   
"We were, Tynan, but it's raining so I changed my mind."  
"Oh."  
"Maybe tomorrow."  
"Are we there yet?"   
"No, Molly, we be almost there, though." Sean and Logan smiled at Molly's comment. They remembered saying the exact same thing when they were kids, and their mother always gave the same answer.   
"Almost, baby. Almost." Logan echoed the words both of them were thinking.   
Five minutes later, they pulled into the schoolyard. There were adults and children everywhere walking through the rain. Logan parked the car; they got the kids out and started walking towards the building.   
"It's bigger then me old school." Tynan commented as they went through the door. They walked down to the third grade classrooms to find Tynan's classroom, but his name wasn't on any of the lists. One of the teachers said he would have to go to the principal's office, so they took the children down there, where they were told Sean and Tynan would have to wait.  
"I'll take Molly to orientation."   
"But what about work, you'll be late." Logan looked at his watch.  
"I don't have any appointments until eleven thirty today, and it's only quarter to nine now. When you get done here, or at recess, you can stay with Molly and I'll go to work."  
"Are ye sure?" Sean asked, glancing at Tynan and Molly, who were sitting on some chairs and looking very bored.  
"No problem. What are uncle's for?"  
"Gifts and presents." Sean said as he went over to Molly. "Molly, baby, I have to stay here with Tynan. Is it alright if Uncle Logan goes with ye to class?"  
"Yes, daddy. We'll be fine." She answered. She gave her father a kiss and took Logan's hand then they walked into the crowded hallway.  
  
Outside the school...  



	4. Max

Hey, Thanks for all the great reviws, and now, back to outside the school...  
  
  
Max, Ishi, Mai and Lei walked across the playground towards the school building. Mai and Lei wanted to go play in the playground around back, but Max told them they would have to wait until recess. They walked into the building out of the rain, and immediately took off their wet jackets. Ishi and Max carried the children's book bags and coats, while they carried their own lunches and held tightly to the adult's hands. They easily found the kindergarten classrooms by the group of parents and small children, but once there they discovered Mai and Lei were in different classes. Max asked the teacher about this and was told it was to cut down on competing between siblings. They decided that Max would go with Mai and Ishi would stay with Lei, so they said good-bye and split up.   
Inside Mai's classroom were six tables with four small chairs around each. Near each chair was a bigger one for the parents that had been invited. They noticed in each spot were some crayons and a coloring page with each child's name written on it. They found Mai's spot and sat down. Four other children sat at different tables coloring, one had an adult sitting beside her, while the other parents stood in the back of the classroom talking. Mai just sat looking around the classroom, so Max picked up a crayon and started coloring.  
"Hey." Mai objected.   
"What? You don't seem to want to color, so why waste this perfectly good page with your name on it?" Max chose another crayon. Mai took it from her hand and started coloring where Max had left off, she smiled and looked at the other names around the table. Paul, Toby and Molly. Glancing at the other tables, Max noticed there were two boys and two girls at most of them. She picked up another crayon and joined Mai in coloring, this time she didn't object.   
About five minutes later, a few more children had joined them in the classroom, all of the adults now stood in the back of the classroom talking. Max thought of joining them, but decided against it. She was much younger than all of them, and some of them seemed to be staring at her. She used her exceptional hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation.  
"It's a shame." One of the ladies said.  
"I know, can you imagine? She's so young." Another added. The third in the small group spoke up.  
"She can't be more than nineteen. I know there are teens that get pregnant, but she must have been a baby herself!" It finally clued into Max that they thought Mai was her daughter. Max didn't know what to do, all these people thought bad of her, should she say something to them. She desperately wished she had been brought up to be tough, what would Kade have done? As Max sat there worrying and coloring, she didn't notice that her and Mai had been joined at the table, until Mai spoke up.  
"Hello, my name is Mai, what's your name?" Max looked up into the eyes of a man sitting behind another little girl.  
"My name is Molly." She heard the girl say.  
  
To Be Continued...  



	5. Logan

This one is a lot shorter than the rest, and I'm sorry it took so long to do, I have been neglecting my website, so I spent my last few days there.  
-egbkid  
  
  
Logan walked into the classroom with Molly and looked around. The first thing he saw were a dozen children scattered around the small tables, one of the children had an adult with them, and he noticed she looked like a young girl herself. He started looking for Molly's name on one of the tables, and noticed it was at the same table as the young girl was sitting at. As Logan and Molly walked further into the classroom, he caught some of the conversation of some of the other adults, who were standing in the back of the classroom. He thought of joining them, but when he heard that they were talking about the young girl at the table, he changed his mind and went to sit down with Molly.  
Molly loved coloring, so she immediately picked up a crayon and started working on her picture. Logan glanced at it and saw it was a classroom similar to the one they were in. Then he heard the little girl across the table speak.  
"Hello, my name is Mai, what's your name?"  
Molly looked up and said, "My name is Molly." The young girl quickly looked up when she heard Mai talk, and straight into Logan's eyes. She had the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen...  



	6. Talk

Hey, thanks for all the revews. Sorry this is so short, I don't have a lot of time, and if there are any spelling mistakes, sorry as well, because I am using a different program that does not have spell check.  
-egbkid.  
  
Max wanted to introduce herself to the man sitting across from her, but she didn't know what to say. Luckily, he spoke up first.  
"Hi, Logan Cale." he said, extending a hand. She took it and shook.  
"Max. Max Guevera. Is this your daughter?"   
"No, actually, Molly is my neice. My nephew had a few enrollment problems, so her father is with him."  
"This is my friend's daughter Mai."  
"Hello, Mai, it's nice to meet you." Logan said.   
"Hello Mr. Cale." Mai said, barely looking up from her picture. Max looked at Molly and noticed she was absorbed in her picture as well. She picked up a crayon and started coloring with Mai again. Suddenly Logan got up from the desk.  
"Leaving so soon, Mr. Cale?" Max asked. She noticed he was looking at a beeper. He too out his cell phone and called the number and started talking, when he hung up five minutes later he looked upset.  
"Is something wrong?"  
"That was my office, I had an appointment at eleven, but apperently it was moved to nine thirty. That means I'm going to have to leave. I hope Sean is done at the office soon. Could you sit with Molly while I go check on him?"  
"Sure, no problem." Max answered. "I hope everything is alright."  
"I hope so too." Logan answered, walking quickly from the classroom. It was almost filled now. Max checked her watch. It was almost time for the teacher to arrive, Max hoped Logan's brother would be able to come to the classroom, they would have a lot of forms to fill out for the new students, and Max didn't want Molly to be left out.  
"Where did Uncle Logan go?" Molly asked. Max noticed she had an accent, Irish, perhaps.  
"He had to go see if your daddy can come sit with us because he has to go to his office." Another child joined them at the table, and his mother went to gossip with the other parents.  
"I've been there. It stinks."  
"Really? Like what?"  
"Like medcine." Molly answered, picking another crayon.  
"So your uncle Logan is a doctor?"  
"Yes, that he be."  
"What kind of doctor is he?" Max asked.  
"He's a baby doctor."  
"A baby doctor?"  
"Yes. You know, he helps babies that are sick."  
"I think I understand."  
"Daddy!" Molly yelled, She was looking towards the door of the classroom. Max followed her gaze.  
And immeditly fell in love...  
  
To Be Continued... 


	7. Thoughts

You wanted a longer chapter, here it is, hope you like it, not much action though. I'm sorry it's taking so long, but I'm having troubles with this. I know where I want it to go, but I don't know how I'm going to get it there. Enjoy!  
-egbkid  
  
After finding Sean walking down the hall towards him, Logan showed the way to Molly's classroom and left. He wished he didn't have to go, that girl, Max, he wanted to talk to her some more. But it seemed like he knew her, like they had met before, although he couldn't think of where. He also thought it was strange that the name Max was what Tynan had heard him shout before waking up this morning.   
"Weird." Logan whispered as he got in his car and drove towards his office.  
  
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Max followed the man Molly had called daddy with her eyes until he sat down across from her. She quickly glanced down to Mai's paper, hoping he didn't notice that she had been staring.   
"Hello, I'm Sean. You must be Max, Logan mentioned ye while he showed me how t' get here." He offered his hand and Max took it  
"It's nice to meet you, Sean." Just then the teacher walked in, and the rest of the adults scrambled to take seats.   
The first thing the teacher made them do was introduce themselves. Max was a bit nervous as her turn approached, but a look from Sean eased her fears a bit. She told them her name was Max and that Mai was her best friend's daughter. A couple of parents looked a little sceptical, they still thought Max was Mai's mommy, so she tried to ignore them as she sat back down. The rest of the morning was taken up by filling out lots of forms. Emergency numbers, health forms, Max thought they would never end. Meanwhile, the children got to play in the classroom to get to know the place. Trying to figure out where all the information on the cards and papers Ishi had given her, Max got confused. She hoped it was going well for Ishi, who still had a few problems reading English sometimes; she had grown up speaking Chinese and had moved to Seattle about eight years before. Finally, it was recess time, and Max and Mai went to meet Ishi and Lei. Mai and Lei immediately ran off to play together, they had missed each other a bit, so Max and Ishi went and stood by the building with the other parents and talked. Soon Sean walked up.  
"Is it alright if I join ye, ladies?" he asked.   
"Sure, Sean, I'd like you to meet Mai's mother, Ishi Makoto. Ishi, this is Sean Cale, his daughter Molly is in Mai's class."   
"It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Cale." Ishi said, smiling at him.  
"Ah, but th' pleasure is all mine, Mrs Makoto, an' please, call me Sean."  
"Then you must call me Ishi"  
"Alright. Oh I must go, Molly is calling for me. But I be back!" He strode across the playground towards Molly, who was yelling from atop the jungle gym.   
"Ah, Max, you like this Sean, no?"  
"Ishi! He's probably married, a man doesn't have two children without being married."  
"Two children?"  
"His brother, Logan, told me Molly has an older brother."  
"OH? So he has a brother..."  
"Ishi!" she smiled at Max's outburst. "He is an older brother, and is probably married too. And you can tell they're rich. Logan is a doctor, every woman in his office is probably after him."  
"But you like them, no excuses, Max." Ishi teased.  
"I guess. They're out of my league. There's no way any one of them two would want to go out with a kid like me. You should have seen the looks some of the parents were giving me in Mai's class. They all thought I was her mother."  
"True, you are young. But what does age matter? Somuru is older than I am."  
"Only two years, Ishi. Sean is probably almost eight or even ten years older than I am." The bell interrupted Max, so they found Mai and Lei and went back inside. But in her heart, Max knew Ishi was right.  
  
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As Sean looked across the small table at Max, he didn't know what to think. There was only one woman who was as beautiful as Max in this world, and that was Maegan, his wife. Thinking of this brought back the memories of her. She, like him, had been born in America, but sent to an Irish boarding school when she was young. It was next door to the one Sean himself had attended. Sure, she was almost six years younger than him, but when he saw her the day before he graduated into High School, he fell in love instantly. She had only been a little over ten, and he was fifteen. But the age didn't matter. As he got closer to her, he found out her real name was Cora. No one knew where she came from or how, she had been sent to the school in grade two, and barely remembered her parents, because she hadn't seen them since, and she didn't know why her name had been changed to Maegan. All he knew was she was beautiful. They married when he was twenty and she fifteen. By the next year, Tynan was born. Every one of the teachers at Maegan's school objected, and she was expelled. After Molly was born, Sean made her go back to school, and she had graduated from and Irish public school. Then six months ago, she had been in a car accident and died. Sean couldn't go on in Ireland, with no family around, and no friends because they had recently moved. So he picked up everything and moved back to his birthplace, Seattle, with his brother. About three months ago, Sean contacted their old school, to get her records. He wanted to find out more about her. He found out she had been sent there from a small town near the borders of Oregon and Nevada. Apparently, she had scared everyone because of her 'special powers' so her adoptive parents sent her to Ireland and changed her name, forgetting about her. He sent word to them that she had died, but the only thing that came back was a message that they didn't understand whom he was talking about. It had been over six years since they had stopped paying into the Irish school, and had practically forgotten all about it while trying to raise their other five adopted children, their own one child, and up to three foster kids at any given time. Sean was upset that they could forget about such a beautiful and wonderful woman, and tried to find her birth parents, but she had been found on the steps a an orphanage when she was a little over two. No clues as to where she had come from, but the orphanage said she did have a brother, named Mat. He was adopted into a family that had later moved out of the country. He had been a couple of years younger than her and adopted before Maegan, so Sean didn't search him out, deciding it would be a dead end. They said the children were found on the steps, with a nametag taped to their chests, Cora hugging baby Mat.   
He looked across the table at Max, who was sitting with Mai on her lap, listening to the teacher read a story. She reminded him so much of his wife, and he didn't know what to do...  



End file.
